During a great feastday, the beasts inhabiting Redwall Abbey are stirred from their reveries by the thunderous cry of Urthblood, a grim, emotionless badgerlord of Salamandastron dressed in blood-red armour, who possesses the gift of prophetic foresight. Invited into the abbey, he tells the gathered beasts of a dire prophecy he received in his youth; a prophecy foretelling a great crisis that will sweep over the lands of Mossflower, and cast them into war, conflict and calamity, but leaving it unclear as to whom or what will be causing it. Ever since, he has striven tirelessly to gather a great army, fight against the evil beasts of the lands and to unite Mossflower and its surroundings into a strong, unified nation that will be able to withstand or even avert the coming darkness. Now he is offering the Redwallers to strengthen their defenses and help them prepare for the times ahead, for great changes are coming to the lands, and old certainties and beliefs will be challenged in extraordinary and unexpected ways...

The saga develops and examines ideas never touched upon in the official Redwall novels, and ditches their strict Black and White Morality for a complex moral conflict that constantly forces the reader to reevaluate who's side he should be on and who is good or evil. It starts simple enough, but soon turns into a complex, multifaceted epic involving vermin being taken under Urthblood's arms and retrained into noble warriors, two badgerlords at war, a massive conflict with the searats, a shrew rebellion, escalating arms races, dozens of characters all getting their own time in the spotlight, unexpected plot twists and character development and all the action, drama, humour, horror and tragedy you could possibly hope for in a story.

Sadly, the story is not yet finished. By the time the final chapter of The Shrew War was published in the spring of 2004, the popularity of the Redwall books and the ROC was beginning to wane. Since then, partly due to personal issues and due to the lesser chance of exposure to new readers, the author has yet to write the third novel, leaving the series with a massive Cliffhanger. That may change now, however; the story is being published on Fanfiction.net for the first time, gaining new attention and fans, and if enough people want to see the saga continue, that might just happen! So head over there if you have any interest in Redwall, furry/anthropomorphic fiction, or just fantastic stories in general; you won't get disappointed.

This work contains examples of:

Acquired Poison Immunity: Urthblood has made himself pretty much immune to poisons, and it's hinted though not outright stated that he did it through this method. One of the captains recall an incident when a ferret in his army tried to poison him with a rigged knife in order to take it over for himself. The badger simply stood up, pulled out the knife, had the ferret dragged out in front of the other soldiers and forced him to eat the knife...

Urthblood loses his swordpaw in the duel with Urthfist, but still manages to slay him.

Atlantis Is Boring: Wonderfully averted when Winokur, a river otter who at first feels a great deal of trepidation at the prospect, decides to take a swim in the sea by the side of Salamandastron. The chapter goes into a great deal of depth about all the wonders of the underwater world, with lavish descriptions of the countless varieties of ocean life.

Ax-Crazy: Wolfrum certainly comes across as this. So does Urthfist, to an extent.

Bat Deduction: From a quick look the sword that Snoga took of the corpse of a slain slaver fox, Urthblood deduces that it's a searat sword, that the foxes have traded it for their recently captured slaves, that they would have made the exchange with the rats at a nearby river, and how long ago this would've taken place.

Bed Sheet Ladder: The Long Patrol hares use one to escape from their room where they're held in captivity by Urthblood. It turns out that he's already waiting for them outside, but he lets them go anyway.

Big, Badass Bird of Prey: Urthblood employs several of them, including an eagle, a kite and a falcon, as messengers, spies and occasionally as fighters. And they're armoured.

Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word: After the Battle of Salamandastron, Urthblood proclaims that he will charge Hanchett with treason for having attacked him during his duel with Urthfist and costing him his right paw, while implying that he'll probably spare him if the remaining Long Patrol join up with him. Subverted since the Long Patrol refuse to do so, and Urthblood later spares Hanchett's life anyway.

Butt Monkey: Fitkin the ferry shrew constantly seems to have misfortunes happen to him. First Urthfist collapses his hovel around him, forcing him to dig his way out, then after Urthblood raises it for him Urthfist nearly kills the shrew on his return trip, and after the Battle of Salamandastron, Clewiston collapses the hovel again. Of course, most of those misfortunes are his own damn fault for his often unreasonable demands to people who need to use his barge, even in emergencies, his incessant greed and his insults to Urthfist's face (and to his memory, in front of the Long Patrol).

Cain and Abel: Urthfist, Urthblood's younger brother who've taken over as lord of Salamandastron while he's been away on his campaigns to unite the lands, considers his brother his mortal enemy. He has interpreted the prophecy to mean that it is Urthblood who's the true threat that will descend upon the world, and that the powers of fate have turned him wholly evil; he considers him taking vermin under arms as proof of this. The Crimson Badger largely revolves around their conflict.

Carnivore Confusion: The series inherits this from the official novels, and discusses it occasionally. In a scene where Urthblood's vermin captains are allowed into Redwall for the first time, it is admitted that the soldiers have been allowed to kill and eat birds on occasion, and Montybank makes a jab of vermin eating other furred beasts, though his comment is mostly just prejudice as they regard that as cannibalism as much as the Redwallers do. And of course, like in the official series, no-one has any problems with eating fish and shrimps.

Chained Heat: Jans and Broggen, a mouse and a stoat who are soldiers of Urthblood, are a rare willing example of this. Broggen's alcoholism caused trouble for him in his early campaigning days when he soured relations between the badger and the locals he was trying to impress during a drunken binge, and he punished him by throwing him into a bog. Jans felt pity for him and saved him against his master's orders, who then declared that he would be responsible for the stoats behaviour for the rest of his life. To better keep an eye on his charge, he had a length of chain forged around their wrists, which they've been carrying for years. Despite their situation, they've learned to work perfectly as a team, and are one of the most effective soldiers in Urthblood's army.

After Smallert's accidental killing of Speeg and wounding of Cyrus, this trope comes into play in more traditional fashion, as Machus decides to chain him together with Hanchett, whom Urthblood has asked the Redwallers to keep at the abbey for ten days, in order to prevent the hare from escaping. This turns out to save Smallert's life, as he's kept from being executed while chained to the hare for a couple of days, enough time for Cyrus to re-awaken and forgive the weasel, and the Redwallers to adopt him into the abbey

Commander Contrarian: Snoga, the shrew who insists that he should be in command of the Guosim, acts like this to everything that both Log-a-Log and Urthblood does or says.

Consummate Liar: Urthblood is not forthcoming either about the details of his prophecy or his true aims and methods, and is more than willing to bend the truth or outright lie to both enemies and allies in order to achieve his goals, and shows little to no remorse in doing so. The first obvious example in the story is his claim that he didn't know about his brother's hatred for him until he met with a Long Patrol hare who tried to kill him on sight after arriving at Redwall. This is despite that several chapters earlier, he is seen giving orders to Browder to travel to Salamandastron to lure Urthfist out with a story of him conquering Redwall, in order to take the mountain for himself.

Browder himself is very skilled at lying when he puts his mind to it, perfectly succeeding in getting Urthfist and most his Long Patrol out of Salamandastron. He doesn't seem to consider himself one however, maintaning that he is simply an actor telling a particular kind of story.

Contrived Coincidence: Lampshaded. The fox Machus carries a sword that is an almost exact replica of the sword of Martin, which Urthblood forged for him in the Northlands despite never having seen the latter. Urthblood speculates that Boar the Fighter. the badgerlord who crafted the original sword, may have been present in spirit and guided him when he made it.

Cool Boat: The fish-shaped searat submarine, complete with a propeller and periscope.

Cruel and Unusual Death: Urthblood once invoked this by forcing his would-be assassin, a ferret named Kedrin, to eat his own poisoned knife. It gets stuck in his throat halfway down, causing him to cough up blood, and Kedrin dies from the poison.

Dark and Troubled Past: Plenty of the soldiers in Urthblood's army has this as their background, having been recruited from various slaver gangs and pillaging hordes. Urthblood's own past also turns out to not have been squeaky clean either.

Death Ray: Discussed. Early in TCB, Urthblood speculates that it may be possible to build a device of giant lenses and mirrors that would focus sunlight to such a degree that it would be possible to incinerate an enemy army. He never comes around to doing it however, mostly because that wouldn't mesh with physics, even in the Redwall universe.

Defeat Means Friendship: Most of Urthblood's vermin troops (see Heel Race Turn below) come from former pillaging hordes and slaver bands that he defeated and whose leaders he killed, offering the survivors a chance to join his army instead.

After being accidentally and lightly pricked on the rump by the soft spikes of the young hedgehog Droge, Wolfrum is ready to draw blood from him with his sword, and when Balla interferes, he's comes close to lopping one of her ears of. Fortunately, Machus interferes before he has a chance to do so.

Doing It for the Art: Much of The Crimson Badger was written in the late 90's before the author found out about the ROC or expecting anyone else to ever read it. That's right: a novel-length fanfic was written by someone who never thought it would ever get read by anyone except himself! And not only that, but most of both TCB and The Shrew War was written by hand!!

Double Standard: The hares consider Machus to be treacherous for stabbing Urthfist in his unofficial duel with Urthblood. They see absolutely nothing wrong with the hare Hanchett having stabbed Urthblood a few moments before.

Dreaming of Things to Come: Urthblood apparently receives some of his prophetic visions through dreams. Of course, his first instance of this in the story, where he claims he's found out about his brother's enmity for him, is a patent lie as he has already prepared for war with him for a long time.

Dude Magnet: Lady Mina, the squirrel archer who follows Urthblood's army to Redwall as an envoy, is immediately courted by most of the male squirrels of the abbey, including Alexander, it's chief archer.

Easy Logistics: Semi-averted. Urthblood's troops are mostly stated to forage for their food, as well as receiving supplies from farms and settlements in the Northlands that he controls. He also regularly holds councils with his captains to discuss the supply of weaponry, food, clothing etc.

Evil Former Friend: It is revealed that in his early days of campaigning, Urthblood saved Tratton, his later nemesis, from a shipwreck, sailed with him for a number of months and even cleared the way for him to rise as the king of the searats. He hand waves this as being necessary because he foresaw him as a future enemy, but the exact nature of their early relationship is kept very diffuse...

Eye Scream: Major Safford takes an arrow through the eye, courtesy of Alexander, as he's about to slay Winokur at the Battle of Salamandastron.

Government in Exile: Urthfist and his Long Patrol hares briefly become this after Urthblood conquers Salamandastron while they're at Redwall. It becomes semi-permanent after Urthfist is killed and his remaining hares choose to settle at Redwall.

Hair-Trigger Temper: In contrast to his brother, Urthfist occasionally (read: all the time) comes across as a walking time-bomb. His Long Patrol subordinates basically have to restrain him on several occasions to prevent him from going berserk on someone being rude/voicing an opinion contrary to his own/being a fox, weasel or rat.

Heel Race Turn: One of the main themes of the saga. Early in The Crimson Badger, it's revealed that Urthblood has taken rats, foxes, ferrets and weasels and other traditional "vermin" from the Redwall universe, and put them under arms in order to transform them into decent, upstanding soldiers, hoping to end the ages-old conflict between them and the "goodbeasts" of the lands, and to be better prepared for the coming crisis his prophecy foretells of.

Heroic BSOD: Happens to Smallert when he realized that he's mortally wounded Cyrus in his rageful attempt to get revenge on Wolfrum for lopping off his ear.

In Vino Veritas: The Redwallers invite some of Urthblood's captains for a private gathering in order to hear their thoughts about their master when he's not around, during which they uncork a bottle of blackberry brandy and encourage them to help themselves, in order to loosen their tongues. It works quite well, but leaves Vanessa with a splitting headache the morning after.

Instant Sedation: Urthblood's forces employ a knockout gas called Flitchaye gas, after a savage weasel tribe they got it from, in the form of a clay cannisters containing two liquid extracts that mix together when they're shattered, producing a white vapor that almost instantly puts anyone breathing it in to sleep. This proves essential to him since it allows him to capture Salamandastron in a covert raid without losing a single one of his otters or killing any of the guarding Long Patrol hares.

Living Lie Detector: As a result of his prophetic powers, Urthblood is able to detect whether someone is telling the truth or not almost flawlessy, and is even able to engage in limited mind reading to gauge the general character and trustworthiness of his target.

Look Behind You: Balla does this twice with Wolfrum during her confrontation with him after he's been pricked by her nephew Droge. First she tells him that Machus is right behind him to distract him when she hits him in the stomach with her staff. During the resulting fight, when Wolfrum has gotten the upper paw over her and is about to extract a bloody vengeance, she does so again, prompting him to mock her for thinking that he'll fall for it twice. Only this time, Machus really is right behind him...

Lost in Translation: In-universe example. An old nursery rhyme that is popular with the abbey children was originally a poem describing the effects a seer has on the time he lives in.

Meaningful Funeral: Urthfist is given one by his brother after the Battle of Salamandastron, by being placed on the throne in the room where Urthblood's prophecy was first written. Clewiston speculates that it may have reflected something Urthblood had said earlier: that he'd let Urthfist have the throne of Salamandastron when he was "worthy" of having it...

Motive Rant: While Urthblood is usually content to just do what he feels is necessary without others understanding him, he does give a few of these throughout the saga.

Never My Fault: Aside from his violent temper and general unpleasantness to those around him, this is the major flaw of Wolfrum, a rat in Urthblood's army. He's apparently utterly unable to understand that he's done anything wrong or take any responsibility for the bad things that happens to others because of him, even when he's thrown a fellow soldier to be killed by Smallert, and done the same to young Cyrus, who just barely survives the wound he receives.

Noble Bigot: Many characters in the series could be classified like this, due to their general opinion of the vermin species; because of their history of conflict with them, they have a very hard time accepting and welcoming rats, foxes and stoats into their midst. Over the course of the series, most gradually learn to be more tolerant and even manage to count individual vermin as friends, but it takes quite some time, and some never truly get over their old prejudices.

The Long Patrol hares embody this especially, since their hatred of vermin is stronger than most, while still being good guys. With their master Urthfist, however, there's very little emphasis on "Noble" and very strong emphasis on "Bigot"

No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: A heroic example (more or less): Urthblood invites Colonel Clewiston, the lead hare of the Long Patrol who've been taken captive after his takeover of Salamandastron, to dinner to try to persuade him to switch loyalties from Urthfist to him. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

Off with His Head!: Happens to Machus during Urthfist's and Urthblood's final duel as he saves his master's life in the process. Urthblood later sews it back onto his body so he can be be buried in a dignified state.

Parental Neglect: A very mild example with Winokur the otter's father, Warnokur. When his mother died shortly after his birth, Warnokur left his son at the abbey and spends most of his days travelling, only visiting his son a couple of days each season. He's still a very warm and kind dad whenever they get together however, and is treated sympathetically, not to mention that the other characters often call him out on his irresponsibility. It's a shame that he doesn't survive the Battle of Salamandastron...

Psychic Block Defense: Urthblood is apparently able to do this to the entire era he lives in. More specifically, Geoff the recorder finds an ancient version of an old nursery rhyme that turns out to have been a poem about how a seer living in a specific era prevents past seers from being able to make predictions and prophecies about that era.

Schizo Tech: The series introduces several unusually advanced devices as the series go on, mostly due to efforts by Urthblood and Tratton to keep a technological edge over each other. The first we see are an iron submarine built by the searats, and a knockout gas used by the badgerlord's forces.

Screw Destiny: Urthblood does what he does partly to avert the coming crisis, or at least to weather it.

Secret Path: It is revealed that there is one through the mountains that seperate the Western Plains, and Redwall, from Salamandastron. This becomes important for several events in The Crimson Badger.

Self-Made Orphan: There is a sympathetic example of this in Machus. After he and his clan was saved from being wiped out by searats by the interference of Urthblood, he killed his father, who was the leader of the clan, when he refused to allow him to join the badger's nascent army. However, he's deeply remorseful about it, it is established as a shameful sin of his past, and Urthblood brushes it off by saying that his father was an evil beast who would probably have killed his own son rather than lose him to the badger.

White and Gray Morality: The general shade of the conflict between the Redwallers, who are for the most part truly good and striving to do what's right, and Urthfist and the Long Patrol (and to a lesser extent Urthblood and his forces) who are also convinced they're doing what's right, but are decidedly more willing to use more questionable means in their struggle.

Shoot the Dog: Urthblood has no problem with this trope if he believes it's for the greater good. The earliest clear-cut example is when he chooses to execute the captured searats from the submarine, apparently after having applied some brutal "interogations" on them first. He justifies it to Winokur, by whose Redwall standards such acts would be appalling, by claiming that they would only have caused more trouble and misery if they were set free, that they would have slowed them down too much if they'd brought them with them to Salamandastron, that the Guosim they'd stolen their children from would have done the same if they were handed over to them, and that by gazing deeply into their eyes, he could see that their souls were completely beyond redemption. While his reasons in this case does appear to have merit, it's always left ambiguous whether he's telling the truth or doing these things out of simple convenience.

Shout-Out: The sandal that hangs by the tapestry along with the sword of Martin is a reference to "Highwing: A Sparra's Tale", an earlier story of the author that takes place within the same continuity.

The searats' fish-shaped submarine that Urthblood discovers is possibly a shout-out to the Nautilus.

The title of the fourth book of TCB comes from a song by the Grateful Dead.

Standing Between The Enemies: Winokur does this at the first meeting of Urthblood and the Guosim shrews, who are about to come to blows since Log-a-Log's son has just been kidnapped and they are determined not to let any vermin, including the ones in the badger's army, to leave their forest alive. His actions saves hundreds of lives.

Tactical Withdrawal: At the end of The Crimson Badger, Tratton shows up at Salamandastron with a fleet of dreadnoughts to survey the place, but decides to turn back since he doesn't know its true capabilities yet, despite the advice of his captains and his own queen. This turns out to have been a monumental mistake since Urthblood's troops are decimated after the Battle of Salamandastron. If he'd chosen to attack then, he might've won.

Tears of Joy: Despite Cyril's earlier insistence that real warriors don't cry, he openly weeps with joy at seeing his younger brother recover from his grievous wounds. Smallert's eyes also brim over when he finds out that the Redwallers have convinced Machus to let him live, and will adopt him into the abbey.

The Squad: Urthfist regularly sends out squads of three Long Patrol hares to scout out the regions around Salamandastron, both to be alerted of searats and his brother. There is a special squad consisting of only a single hare called Traveller, whose role is to go father afield to spy on Urthblood and his army.

The Stoic: Urthblood. The number of times he shows any strong emotion in the series can be counted almost literally on one paw.

Training The Peaceful Abbeydwellers: Not exactly a straight example, since the Redwallers are already good fighters and knowledgable about how to defend their abbey. However, they have lived in peace for so long that their standards have become rather laxed, and Urthblood reminds them of this and introduces changes to their security that they wouldn't have thought of otherwise.

Treasure Room: Salamandastron is revealed to have a magnificient one underneath the throne room were Urthblood first carved his prophecy.

Uncleanliness Is Next to Ungodliness: This trope was in effect with most of the vermin in the official series, and it's discussed here. It's mentioned a couple of times that ever since joining Urthblood's army, the vermin have to take regular baths and look after their hygiene, which many of them apparently didn't do before. Despite this, the woodlanders often make comments about them being more "dirty" than they are; whether this is just friendly jabs, prejudice or actually true is unclear.

Unfortunate Names: Of the "Rhyming Names" variety; one of Urthblood's captains is called Perrett... the Ferret.

Would Be Rude to Say "Genocide": During a meeting between the Redwallers and the Long Patrol, it's revealed that shortly after Urthblood ran away from Salamandastron after receiving his prophecy, he was captured by a tribe of pygmy shrews who planned to use him as forced labour. Since he had much less control over his inner Bloodwrath in those days, and hated slavers above all other types of villainous creatures, he flew into a berserker rage, breaking free of his restraints and slaughtering most of the tribe, including several children.

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